Scratch-Off Tickets Leave Trail to Burglary Suspects

Finding a prize on your lottery ticket is supposed to be good luck — but not when the ticket is allegedly one of several snatched in a convenience store burglary.

North Charleston police responded to the Neighbor's Store on East Montague Avenue on Thursday regarding a burglary. The owner had arrived to find someone had broke into the store through an air conditioning vent on the roof.

She reported that $400 had been taken from the safe, along with $150 in rolled coins sitting under the cash register. There was also $60 in lottery tickets missing, as well as condoms and cigarettes.

Police claim video surveillance shows a man stealing the items while two other individuals serving as look outs.

Working with the South Carolina Lottery Commission, the NCPD learned that one of the missing tickets had been cashed at a Rivers Avenue Exxon a little more than three hours after the alleged robbery.

The Exxon store clerk said she remembered the winning ticket and alleged that the person who cashed it was still on the balcony of the extended stay hotel next door.

There, police say they found Derrick Lamont Felder and Rickie Angeline Miller, along with alleged evidence linking them to the crime. They've both been charged with 2nd degree burglary.

A third suspect, Wilbur Lovan Hooks, is accused of cashing a winning ticket. He has been charged with violating the South Carolina Lottery Act.